I just want to get back to work, says Met officer cleared over flirty texts with Porsche driver

 
PC Saheena Tegally, 26: cleared of perverting the course of justice at Wood Green Crown Court.
My Space
Matt Watts8 August 2014

A Met officer cleared of trying to help an uninsured Porsche driver get off after they exchanged flirtatious texts today said she wants to forget the ordeal and “get back to work as soon as possible”.

PC Saheena Tegally, 26, was cleared on Wednesday of perverting the course of justice at Wood Green Crown Court.

Prosecutors claimed Ms Tegally falsely told other officers Porsche driver Richard Myerson, also 26, was covered because he was flirting with her and asked her out on a date.

Speaking today outside her home in London Colney, St Albans, Hertfordshire, she said: “Of course I still want to work for the police. I’d like to get back to work as soon as possible.”

When asked if she thought she would keep her job, she said: “I don’t know. I don’t know what’s happening. Since the case, I just left the court and came home, that’s it.”

She said she was “pleased” she had been cleared and that the past year had been “difficult.”

But she declined to say whether she acted improperly by sending the text messages, adding: “Now is not the time to talk about it all, I will at some point.

The officer swapped numbers with Richard Myerson after she pulled him over in a Porsche 911 for an insurance check.

They sent texts and emails to each other, including one in which Mr Myerson suggested she should sit at her desk in her underwear after she complained about the heat.

In another message, the court heard the West Hampstead-based officer told Mr Myerson: “It’s really hot. I’m in my bikini catching the sun.”

Ms Tegally had also been accused of trying to stop other officers looking into the case.

But despite being cleared of charges of perverting the course of justice, she still faces disciplinary action from Scotland Yard that could lead to her losing her job. Myerson was later convicted of driving without insurance.

During the trial Ms Tegally admitted she helped Mr Myerson receive insurance documents and was sent documents via email showing he had not been insured. However, she claimed she did not read them closely and initially assumed he was covered.

She told the court it was just a mistake and that she had never told her superiors that he had been legally driving, only telling them it “looked like” he was.

She said she created a proper “paper trail” but the emails may have been lost after she deleted a large number from her account simultaneously without checking them, following a warning about not having enough space.

Ms Tegally, who joined the Met as a community support officer in 2007, was suspended by the force pending the outcome of the trial.

Mr Myerson was last night unavailable for comment. His father declined to comment.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said Ms Tegally remained suspended pending the outcome of an ongoing misconduct review.

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